Avatar: The First Non-Bender Book 1: Discovery
by Pinkiemachine
Summary: Avatar Korra has vanished into the spirit world. Peace is now maintained by a single organization. The world is searching endlessly for the next Earth Bending Avatar, but there's just one problem: they can't find him. Could this be the end of the Avatars as we know it? Or could it be the beginning of a whole new adventure?
1. Prologe

Prologe

Fire.

Air.

Water.

Earth.

Today, the Four Nations live together in a struggling peace. Though relations between these great kingdoms remains steady, ever since the Avatar, master of all four elements, mysteriously vanished, revolts and looting rampages have plagued the land.

To keep the peace until the next Avatar arrives, a secret warrior group known as The Underground Army was created. For thirteen years they have protected the Four Nations from fearsome warlords, revolts, insane tyrants, and all manner of terrible things; but for now, all is quiet.

The Earth Kingdom, with its newly formed democracy, has been on its toes excitedly looking for the next Avatar who is reincarnated every time he dies and will be born to a different element in a continuously patterned loop. The previous Avatar, Avatar Korra, was born of the Water Tribes, and it is thus that the next Avatar be born of the Earth Kingdom.

However, while this enthusiastic search continues, The Underground Army trains constantly in their cavernous fortresses beneath the soil of the Earth Kingdoms. Any day now the next Avatar could be announced, and they will be ready to welcome him with open arms. Or at least… they were.


	2. Chapter 1 The Exams

**Chapter 1**

 **The Exams**

Ann Jing trudged down the dark hallways of her home. At least, it had been her home ever since she could remember.

She inhaled through her nose and smelled the rough scent of stone and earth. The air was so flat and stuffy down here. How could people possibly think that this was a good place to live?

She looked up from the ground when her face became dangerously close to one of the lit torches hanging on the wall to her left. She moved away quickly and kept walking, letting her mind wander as far as it could. Far enough, perhaps, to see beyond the walls of her prison.

Ann Jing was a waterbender. She had been born in the Northern Water Tribe many years ago, but then she had been taken away… and brought here, to the Underground Army. Most children in the Army, Ann had come to find out, were also taken away from their families at a very young age. Some younger than others, but very few of them exceeded the age of four. The Army was very good at finding the most powerful benders each nation had to offer as early in the bender's life as possible, and then they would train them to do combat for the rest of their lives. It was a melancholy existence as Ann had observed, but it was not without a bright side. Despite how rugged and harsh it all seemed, Ann had still managed to find hospitable people here and there, and not to mention the barracks she shared with all the other waterbenders was always teeming with fountains and waterfalls which was a welcome relief after training all day in a stuffy cave.

At the thought of her fountain-filled room Ann sighed. She would give anything to be there right now instead of being forced to trudge all the way to the training arena early in the morning. What kind of monster would make an innocent child do something like that? Ann chuckled slightly at her own joke.

At last she had reached the arena. She quickly adjusted the belt of her brown uniform, (as if the academy wasn't brown enough already) and turned her gaze toward one of the four locks that surrounded the door that blocked the way to her destination. Each one was made specifically for a different element, so that any non-benders couldn't get in. Multiple doors like this one were scattered across the training facility.

Ann Jing moved her hands forward, summoning the water she constantly carried with her in her water satchel, and inserted it into the lock designated for waterbenders. She made it squirm this way and that for a moment before the wooden door swung open and she returned the water to her satchel.

"JING!" was the first word Ann heard when her face was revealed to the occupancy of the arena. "Where have you been!?" bellowed Master Hung, her combat instructor who stood in front of the large assembly of teenagers that made up her class.

"I-I'm sorry, Master Hung," Ann said respectfully as she bowed. "It won't happen again."

"You'd better hope not, or else it's the whip for you!" her master yelled. Ann flinched as he mentioned 'the whip'. As anyone who is a part of the Underground Army will tell you, the whip is a very brutal form of punishment that would go on indefinitely until the student in question admits defeat. Ann, unfortunately, had been subject to this torment several times. On most of those occasions it had been due to the fact that she was not brutal or decisive enough on the battle field. She always held back due to her more gentle nature, and as a result she had become the target of many masters at the academy.

"Now get in line!" said Master Hung suddenly. Ann hastily made her way over to her fellow students. The fact that Master Hung was furious with her was astonishing, to say the least. He was always the more level-headed master. As he was getting along in his years there seemed to be more of a gentle old man buried beneath that cranky retired warrior, but not today. "Now students, thanks to your little friend here, today your training session has been given an extra three hours. I don't want to hear any complaining, or whining or so help me it'll be the whip for the lot of ya'! So get to it!"

All of the children there, who were waterbenders like Ann, didn't say a word. They set off straight away to begin their daily practices and Ann was sure that a good number of them were scowling at her. There was no doubt about it; The Underground Army was the worst.

The day was long and tiresome. Ann's class spent a good seven hours doing push-ups, sit-ups, fighting maneuvers, hand-to-hand combat, and elemental combat. After all of that, and after having been forced to miss lunch, they headed off to their cultural, tactical and geographic studies. After all, what's a warrior without half a brain?

When the day had finally ended, all the pupils gathered in the dining hall for dinner. Ann stood patiently in line with the others until it was her turn at the counter. She grabbed a wooden plate and held it out to the round, jolly baker on the other side of the counter. He smiled and filled her plate up with four meat dumplings and one small loaf of bread. Ann was happy that at least they kept their students well fed here.

As the waterbenders were the last ones to make it to the dining hall that day, all the other students from their respected elemental groups were already there. The room's many small, rectangular tables were almost all filled up already.

"Ann!" came a voice from behind her. Ann turned around to see a familiar face smiling and waving at her.

"Leena!" Ann called back. She raced over to perhaps one of the only people in all the academy she called friend and sat down beside her. Leena was an airbender, one of the few who were a part of the Army. Ever since a strange anomaly that occurred a few years ago, more and more airbenders had been appearing, but their numbers were still so few that only a small number of airbending children could be assimilated into the Army lest they risk the extinction of an entire elemental faction.

Leena was a very calm and rational girl. Like her forefathers before her she strived to maintain emotional and spiritual balance within herself, but that didn't always sit well with her masters. She had dark brown hair that sat as a bob on top of her head with a high riding ponytail in the back. But it was her pale blue eyes that constantly made her believe that she was descended from the legendary Avatar Aang who lived over seventy years ago. That was why she valued the ancient ways of the Air Nomads more highly than any of her classmates and also why she had gotten into trouble over shaving her head once. Rule number one was 'No Sharp Objects Allowed in the Barracks' after all.

"I heard you were late to class again," Leena whispered as Ann sat down beside her; a pair of chopsticks and a goblet of milk waiting for her at the table.

"Yeah, it was not a pretty sight," Ann replied.

"Why were you late this time?" asked Leena.

"Oh, I couldn't find my uniform's sash anywhere. Turns out Xin hid it again so I'd get in trouble."

"That rat! Why, if I could just get my- doh! Breathe…just breathe…" said Leena as she closed her eyes and breathed in slowly. Sometimes she would have little bursts like that which she would try to stop as quickly as possible. "I'm sorry," she continued. "I'm sure she regrets it now that Master Hung doubled your training hours today."

"Yeah!" Ann and Leena both chuckled.

For a while their meal was eaten in silence. There wasn't much to say. Not much news came from the surface world and everyone's day-to-day lives consisted mostly of training and education. Some days it seemed like life there was pointless.

Suddenly, Master Hui, their educational teacher, came before the assembly of children and the room fell silent.

"Thank you for your undivided attention," she began. "I have a very important announcement to make. Tomorrow is your yearly exams. Everyone from every age group will be given physical and mental challenges to see who is worthy of moving on to their next tier in the academy, and who will be staying right where they are." Ann was sure Master Hui had looked at her when she said that. "However, there is one difference between your usual day-to-day practices and these exams: you will be facing off against fellow pupils from different elemental groups in both your athletic and academic trials. Best of luck to you all. Oh, and one more thing: whoever achieves the highest score in both categories will be honored as this academy's prized pupil and receive his very own private barrack." At this there were a few 'oh's' and gasps among the students. "We shall expect you bright eye-ed and bushy tailed early tomorrow morning. Goodnight, students."

Once Master Hui was out of sight, the extremely loud rabble of pupils began talking about the exams with unbridled excitement. Since there was hardly any sense of time down there, the yearly exams seemed only to come every once in a blue moon.

"Can you believe it?" Leena said enthusiastically. "The winner gets her own barrack! No more sleeping with Tara McSnores-a-lot!"

"Yeah, I'll bet!" said Ann. "But you'll probably have a better chance of winning than me."

"What? Why?" Leena asked, concern spreading across her face.

"Because I've never been very good at winning in a fight. Master Hung says that I keep holding back my true potential," Ann replied.

"Well, why don't you just start following Master Hung's advice?"

Ann paused before saying, "Because I'm afraid of becoming just like everyone else at this academy."

"What?" said Leena, so quietly that Ann could barely hear.

"Nothing. Just forget I said anything." Ann breathed in deeply. "I think I'll hit the hay early," she said as she rose from the table, her plate of bread crumbs and a half eaten dumpling in hand. Suddenly, right when she turned around, she walked smack into another student; her plate tumbling to the floor.

"Oh, I am so sorry!" Ann cried in embarrassment.

"No, no, it's fine," came the voice of the stranger. Ann looked up and saw a boy about her own age with long black hair pulled back in a bun and large brown eyes.

"Are you sure?" Ann asked, more than a little embarrassed as she stooped down to pick up her plate.

"Yeah," he replied quietly while nodding.

"I don't think I've seen you before," Ann said suddenly.

"Yeah, that's probably because I'm an earthbender," he said, raising his hand suddenly so that several small rocks from the floor were lifted to shoulder height and held there for a few moments before he let them fall back down to where they came from. "I'm Toren."

"I'm Ann Jing. But you can call me Ann."

"Cool. See you around, Ann," Toren said as he walked off toward the exit. Ann found herself looking on after him.

"See ya…"

"I saw that."

"W-what?" said Ann as she whipped around and found her friend Leena giving her a very sly look. "What did you see? Th-there's nothing to, uh, to see around here, so…"

"Mmm-hmm. Sure," Leena said with a grin.

"STUDENTS! Lights out in five minutes! Barracks! Now!" bellowed a commanding officer.

Just like clockwork, all the students suddenly rose from their seats and all started walking toward the hallways. Leena followed the lesser portion of the crowd down a different hall toward the airbender barracks. The trek was made in silence until one boy began mouthing off about the exams and how he was sure to win. The boy in question, Kato, was in fact quite the adversary on the battle field. However most of his advantage came from the fact that he was perhaps the oldest of all the airbenders and therefore had had the most experience.

"Those puny waterbenders won't stand a chance against me, not to mention those wimpy firebenders!" Kato went on. He had to be the biggest hothead in the entire school.

Most of them went straight for the barracks, some went to wash up first. Leena was among those who needed to use the restroom. Upon her return to the hallway, though, she thought she heard voices coming from a short ways away. She tiptoed over with the upmost caution and listened carefully.

"Yeah, so what do you think?"

"It's worth a shot. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"The only problem is, we need an airbender."

"An airbender to do what?" Leena asked, suddenly appearing around the corner. She was met by two other students her age. One she recognized as Toren, the other she may have seen around before, but she didn't know his name.

"Leena! Oh, this is perfect!" the stranger of the two said enthusiastically.

"You know my name, but I don't know yours," said Leena calmly.

"My name's Razou. Firebender," he replied. "This is-"

"-Toren, I know. Earthbender, right?" Leena asked. He nodded. "So what exactly do you two need an airbender for?"

"Do you promise not to tell _anyone_?" Razou asked.

"I promise," said Leena.

"Give me your word!" Razou became far more aggressive as he said this.

"Okay, I swear! I give you my word, now what is it?" Leena asked, quite exasperated.

Razou looked around for a moment, trying to see if there was anyone else nearby. Then said, "We're gonna cheat!"

"What?!" Leena cried.

"Shhh! Not so loud! Do you want the whole compound to hear?" Toren said quietly.

"Why on earth would you—for the grand prize, of course," said Leena suddenly realizing mid-sentence. "Well, what do you need an airbender for? How are you planning on cheating?"

"It's quite simple really," Razou began. "Toren will use his earthbending to sneak into Master Hung's office and change the list of students facing off against each other so that he and I don't have to fight any real tough guys. That way, when we tie for first place, we can split the private barracks two ways, but an easy victory isn't guaranteed. That's where you come in!"

"Me?" Leena asked.

"Well, you're an airbender, aren't you?" Razou asked. "Toren will have created the perfect hiding place for you inside one of the walls of the arena where you'll be able to use your far more subtle powers over air to slip up any punks who try to do us in! And just like that, it's a luxury apartment for us!"

"Yeah, there's just one problem," said Leena. "You haven't got an airbender."

"What?" Toren asked. "Why not?"

"Because it's cheating! And I will not stain my perfect record just so you two can get a new bedroom," Leena explained. "Please don't go through with this, guys. You're better than this." Then Leena began walking back to her barrack. Those two were going to get caught tomorrow, she just knew it.

Leena woke early the next morning like all the other students. The exams were a very big day, and everyone wanted to get some training in before they began.

As she walked down the hallways with a few other airbenders, she managed to catch Ann for a moment and wish her luck. She seemed awfully nervous.

Suddenly, Kato walked right into Leena's shoulder and nearly made her lose her balance. It wasn't enough that he was the strongest and biggest airbender at the academy, he still had to rub it in her face.

"See you in the arena, pee-wee," he said rudely above his shoulder.

For a moment, the thought of going back to Toren and Razou flew through her mind, but she immediately rejected it.

"You're not a cheater!" Leena said under her breath. Straightening her uniform, she marched proudly out into the arena where all the other students had already gathered. The first two students to go at it were a waterbender and an earthbender, both of whom Leena did not know.

She stood further back from the playing field as she didn't want to hype herself out. As an airbender she needed to always maintain a spiritual calm inside and out. She wanted to live up to the legendary Avatar Aang as best she could, and part of that was being able to meditate and keep her cool.

After a while, her name was called and she stepped out onto the battle field. Her first opponent was a firebender with long black hair tied up in a shoulder-length braid.

Leena remained calm all throughout the fight. There was an ancient technique that she had been practicing restlessly. She would wait for her foe to come at her and then dodge his every attack so that he would wear himself out, and once he did that, all she would have to do is strike at just the right point and she would win.

Her fight seemed to be going very well. Several times the firebender blasted flames at her, but every time she used her airbending to get out of the way.

She had nearly won when suddenly something caught her foot and she fell to the ground. In that moment, the firebender came at her and beat her pretty bad. Thankfully Master Hung came in and stopped him before he did any more damage, but the message was clear: Leena would not have a very high score at all.

She looked around and saw Kato grinning wildly at her. Suddenly it dawned on her: _he_ had been the one to trip her up. An alarming rage filled her then, one that not even her airbending practices could defuse.

"You tripped me!" she shouted at the smug airbender.

"Now why would I do that?" Kato asked.

"Because you're a smug, egotistical, show-off who couldn't bare to see someone else succeed!" she yelled back.

"It seems to me like someone's just a sore loser," Kato said smugly.

"That is the biggest, ugliest lie I have ever heard!" Leena shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Stop this at once!" came the voice of Master Hung. "Leena! You should be ashamed of yourself! Back to the waiting area, now!"

That was the last straw. As she marched over to what was basically the time-out chair, she had a resolution. Now she was angry. Now she had a reason to cheat.

Instead of sitting down in her stool for who knows how long, Leena went in search of Toren and Razou. She soon found them hanging out at the back of the crowd.

"Leena?" Razou asked when they saw her. "I didn't expect to see you again."

"I've come to accept your offer," she said simply.

"Woah! Really? How come?" asked Razou.

"Let's just say, now I have incentive," Leena explained.

"Great!" Razou seemed overjoyed. "Come over here."

He lead them to a small air vent in the wall. Toren expanded the entrance and width of the tunnel so that Leena could fit inside. Razou told her to wait there until one of them had to fight. Then Toren shrunk the vent entrance back to its original size.

From here, Leena could see the entire arena. And that also meant that she had a perfect view of Kato. The first chance she got she was going to get back at him for making a fool out of her.

Unfortunately, she had a lot of waiting to do. Neither Kato, Razou, or Toren were called for a while and she was becoming uncomfortable.

After watching several long fights pass by with nothing to do, she suddenly heard something coming from the other end of the air duct. It sounded like someone talking. Where could this duct lead?

Having nothing else to do, Leena crawled further down the tunnel, the voices becoming ever clearer as she went. Her air abilities also made it easier for her to bring the words to her more clearly on the subtle breeze that flowed through the tunnel. Before too long, she could hear everything.

"Why? What purpose would that serve?"

"You see, while the Earth Kingdoms set up their little _democracy,_ the rest of the world is a mess! It will be easy to go in and topple the government so I can reinstate myself as king!"

"But what about the Avatar? Surely this would go against his wishes!"

"The Avatar? Bah! No one's managed to find him for fifteen years, Chen! It's time we consider the possibility that maybe once Avatar Korra died in the spirit realm the reincarnation cycle was broken. There may never be another Avatar again!"

 _Avatar? Overthrowing the Earth Kingdom?_ Leena didn't know what to think. What were these two men talking about? From the sound of it, it seemed as though the headmaster of the school, Master Chen, was one of the men present, but she couldn't make out who the second was; and why did he want to make himself king?

Back in the arena, Ann wandered aimlessly around the crowd looking for Leena. After that crushing defeat she wanted to comfort her friend, but she couldn't find her anywhere.

"Hey, Ann," said Toren whom Ann had stumbled upon in the crowd. He was with a boy she didn't recognize. "Everything all right?"

"No," she replied. "Have you seen Leena anywhere? I wanted to talk with her."

"Leena? U-uh, no! Nope! Haven't seen her since this morning!" the strange boy said very unconvincingly. Suddenly Toren elbowed him in the gut.

" _Actually_ I just saw her leave the arena. Maybe she went to go… use the bathroom?" Toren said.

Ann watched them curiously. "All right," she said slowly.

She began making her way down the hallways to find her friend before she was called to do battle. She had to hurry if she was going to make it in time.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Razou called after her.

"To find Leena!" Ann called back.

Panic stricken, Razou and Toren chased after her. They couldn't risk someone finding out that they were using Leena to cheat.

Back in the air duct, Leena listened intently at the conversation unfolding before her. She had managed to find the room that the voices were coming from and laid still like a panther taking in every word.

"How can you say that? The Avatar was what this whole army was founded on! You can't jus—"

"May I remind you who your superior is, Chen? I am the leader of this army, and what I say goes."

"Yes, Admiral Kun Li."

Leena couldn't believe it. Kun Li was the undisputed, unchallenged leader of the Underground Army. But why was he here? All of a sudden it hit her: the exams! The Admiral always came to see how the new warriors were doing on the day of the exams, but no one ever saw his face. He was like a phantom that struck fear into the soldiers; and if he was planning on storming the Earth Kingdom capitol, then someone had to be warned.

"The Avatar belongs to the past. But with my Underground Army, I can take control of the entire known world without lifting a finger. That's why I want your finest students ready for battle within the week. "

"Leena!"

"Huh? What was that? I thought you said all of the students were in the arena?"

"They're supposed to be!"

"Leena, where are you?" That sounded like Ann.

"Ann, she's probably back in the arena already! We must have missed her!" Toren lied catching up with her.

"If she did I would have seen her. There are only two ways into the arena, and I don't think she would have walked all the way around the compound to come in through the entrance on the opposite side of the room," Ann pointed out.

"You're, ah, sure she wasn't in the bathroom?" Razou asked.

"Positive. There was no one in there at all," Ann went on. "I wonder if she went back to the airbender barracks?"

"Master Chen, do something about those insolent little pests, would you? This is supposed to be a top secret discussion!" Admiral Kun said sternly.

As Leena leaned closer to the small circle that made up the entrance to the air ducts, she started to hear a small breaking noise, like stone cracking. It wasn't until it was too late that she realized the rock she was sitting on was crumbling under her weight and she gave a loud squeal. In a split second she had fallen down into Master Chen's office covered in dirt and dust.

Out in the hallways Ann and the boys had heard the cry that obviously belonged to Leena and burst into the room.

"Leena! Are you all right?" Ann cried and then fell dead silent once she saw Master Chen and the Admiral.

"Hi, Master Chen! He he…" Razou said meekly.

Before any of them knew what was happening, all four of them were confined to the dungeons for the foreseeable future with only two water drinking privileges and one meal a day. Needless to say they failed the exams.

As Razou paced the floor of the small, round prison they could all feel the intensity of the situation. Toren had been chained up to prevent him from earthbending their way out, and Ann was to be kept away from all water at all times. The only thing they could do was talk about what Leena had overheard.

"So your sure that they're planning on taking over the Earth Kingdom?" Toren asked.

"Without a doubt," said Leena. "Admiral Kun Li was very clear with his plans. Since the Avatar still hasn't returned he thinks this is the perfect time to take control. And with the Army behind him, he'll probably succeed."

"Argh! This isn't fair!" Razou shouted as he kicked the wall. "They can't keep us here forever! Someone needs to warn the Government!"

Toren sighed. "You know, that just doesn't sound quite as cool as 'the Earth King'. I kind of wish they'd just stuck with that."

"Yeah, well grown-ups are weird," Ann mumbled.

The glow of the torchlight made the whole room very foreboding as they sat there wondering what they should do.

"I'm sick of this place!" Razou finally said.

"You are?" Leena asked.

"YES! All their dumb rules, stupid punishments, and now this whole invasion thing! This place was supposed to be an Army with the highest honor, that to be chosen for it was some great privilege, but do you know what I say?" Razou asked as he stopped pacing and turned to look at them all. "I say that these creeps stole us from our homes, brainwashed us and turned us into mindless soldiers, and are gonna use us to get whatever they want! Well I'm sick of it!"

"He's got a point," said Ann quietly.

"I say we ditch this dump before they try to make us do their dirty work. You in?" Razou said, looking from Toren to Ann to Leena and back again.

"I've had it with them too. I'm in," said Ann, rising to her feet.

"Toren?" Razou asked.

"All they've ever done to me is treat me like a machine and force me to train day and night for something that I never really wanted to do in the first place. I'm in too," he said.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah! Time out here!" said Leena, standing as well. "Think about what you're saying! We can't just leave whenever we feel like it! We are in enough trouble as it is, and now you want to make things worse? There are guards patrolling this place every second of the day, and if by some miracle we do manage to escape, do you realize that we overheard the _Admiral_ and _Master Chen_ talking about their plans to take over the _Earth Kingdom?_ They'd be searching endlessly for us to make sure we didn't warn them! We—we'd be fugitives!"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"None of you care do you?" Leena asked in defeat.

"Leena, this could be our chance to live normal lives for a change. Don't you want to find your family?" Ann said quietly to her friend.

"Well, yes, but—"

"Then it's settled!" Razou cried. "Time for a prison break!"

Leena sighed. "Fine. You win. So what's the plan, master-escape-artist?"

"It's pretty simple, really," Razou began. "We free the one person who can get us outa here without breaking a sweat." He nodded his head toward Toren.


	3. Chapter 2 Fugitives

**Chapter 2**  
 **Fugitives**

Toren, Leena, Razou, and Ann Jing all waited patiently inside their cell. They had their plan all ready to go, now they just needed to wait for the guard to come and give them their lunch so they would be certain that he was gone were growing impatient as the minutes ticked away.

Suddenly, a small rectangular gap opened in the wall down by the floor. The guard promptly slid a tray of food inside through the hole he had made using earthbending. Then as suddenly as it had appeared, the hole closed again.

On the tray was a bowl of porridge and a crust of moldy bread. So much for being 'well fed at the academy'.

Leena got up abruptly and put her ear to the wall.

"Is he gone?" Razou asked.

"Yep. We can get started," Leena replied.

Ann sighed. "If only I could use my waterbending on this porridge!" she threw her hands up in the air and the porridge lurched upward about an inch and then remained still. Ann groaned loudly.

"Don't worry about it! If all goes well we won't need your waterbending," Razou reassured her. "Now, Leena, would you help me?"

Leena breathed in deeply and then used her airbending to separate Toren's chains from him as much as possible.

"Now, this may burn a little," Razou warned.

"Just get on with it," said Toren.

Razou seemingly punched the air and then flames jutted out of his fist. They burned continuously, licking the chains that bound their earthbending friend. They became very hot and turned red until they started to actually melt the chain.

"Hotter, Razou! My wind is cooling it down to much!" Leena warned.

Razou gave out a load moaning yell of effort as he poured out all his energy to finish melting the chains. Finally it dropped to the ground in a boiling hot puddle. Toren jumped to his feet as fast as he could to avoid the molten steel.

"Finally!" he cried as he moved his hands freely again.

Toren closed his eyes and, using a very new very difficult bending technique, metalbended his way out of his cuffs and the chains that bound his feet.

"All right, let's do this!" Toren said confidently. He promptly earthbended a large whole in the ground and jumped down into it. The others followed suit.

Once they were down in the hole, Toren began earthbending a tunnel for them to escape through. They had to be quick, though, as they only had a few minutes before someone came to check out the strange earthbending noise they had heard.

Without thinking, Toren closed the entrance to the tunnel and Razou lit a ball of fire so they could see. They kept going like this for a long while; they had to be extra certain that they had cleared the very large structure of the academy.

After what had to be a good half hour Toren finally changed direction and led them upwards. They were almost there.

BOOM! Boom! boom…

That one sudden sound made all of them freeze where they stood. They were on to them.

Toren instantly threw up a very thick wall of rock to block their path and then went back to opening up the other end of the tunnel.

"Hurry Toren!" Ann said, very worried.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Toren retorted. However he did not have far to go. A few moments later, the earth crumbled above them and gave way to the brilliant light of the sun and the cool breeze which brought with it the smell of grass and flowers and the sea.

They all scrambled up the mound of dirt and for the first time in years, felt the sun on their faces.

"It's beautiful!" Ann said, overcome with joy as she looked out over the ocean which sat only a few miles away from where they stood.

"Yeah, well we can't stick around to enjoy it," said Toren solemnly as he buried the tunnel once again. "It won't take them long to find out where we've gone. We need to keep moving."

"Yeah, but where?" Leena asked.

"Who cares! We can figure out the details later, right now we just have to get away from here!" Razou said taking the lead. With Toren exhausted from all of his earthbending they couldn't go quite as fast as they would have liked, but at any rate they were going somewhere.

There was a nearby wood on par with the ocean that stretched out for a while. The cover of the trees would make it harder for anyone to find them, so that was the logical place to start. It scared Leena to know that the soldiers were right behind them. What would they do to them if they got caught? For the time being, at least, it would probably be better if she didn't think about it.

They walked for quite some time, going past rivers and streams, over hills, through glens, never stopping for anything. This world was so unlike anything they'd ever seen before. Fairly soon it was growing dark.

"So, what were we gonna do after nightfall again?" Ann asked.

"Well, if we can't find a town," Razou began. "Then we make camp."

"Right."

After another hour of walking they realized that they would have to stay in the forest for the night. It didn't seem like there would be a town for a few more miles and they were all exhausted.

Toren made a small circular indent into the ground for where the fire was going to go and then sat down for the remainder of the evening. He was by far the most exhausted out of all of them. Leena and Razou gathered firewood, Ann went to look for fresh water, and when she returned Razou had lit the fire. All things considered, a pretty good camp.

As Toren laid back on the cool earth, feeling the heat of the flames at his toes, he looked up into the starry sky and thought of his family. Where were they? He closed his eyes and tried to think back to when he was little; before he was taken away. He had been five tears old… his house looked… old, maybe? Made of wood? There was a hill, or mountain that stood nearby… a feeling of unease.

His parents… what could he remember about them? Well, he had black hair so one of them must have too. However no matter how hard he tried the images in his head would not become clear. The best he could do was a fuzzy image of two faces and a feeling… a feeling of protection and sincerity. Joy. Peace.

He opened his eyes again and found the sky partially clouded over. He sat up and found the others talking.

"We couldn't at least find some dinner?" Ann complained as her stomach growled.

"Well then maybe you should have brought the porridge with us!" Razou cried.

"I did!" Ann pleaded. "And… then I ate it."

"And your still hungry?" Leena asked with disbelief.

"Hey guys," said Toren. "Maybe we should be talking about where we go from here?"

"The man has an excellent point," Leena said. "So, does anyone have any ideas whatsoever?"

"Well, the reason why we ran off was to warn the Earth Kingdom and then find our homes, right?" asked Ann. "So… what? We just stroll right into Ba Sing Se and demand to see the President? Name one time when that's ever worked."

"Ann's got a point. I mean, without one our masters to represent us, no one will believe that we're part of the Underground Army," said Leena.

"Were a part of the Underground Army," Toren said suddenly.

"Right, right, whatever," Leena went on. "But to them, we're just a bunch of kids. Who's gonna believe us? I'm starting to think that we've bitten off more than we can chew here guys."

Toren sighed. "I don't know how everything's gonna work out, but we have to try. We can't let Admiral Kun Li just take over. Someone has to do something." He closed his eyes and reached up to his man-bun. As he untied it and let his hair fall down into a bushy mess he said, "And that someone is us."

"All right. So what do we do?" Ann asked.

"First things first," began Toren, "we head to Ba Sing Se. What we do once we get there we can afford to discuss at a later date, but the important thing is that it gets us further away from here."

"And if in the end we can't find someone who will believe us?" Razou asked.

"Then we turn to the one person who might: The Avatar." There was only silence after Toren said this.

"What? But didn't you hear what I told you that I heard?" said Leena. "No one's been able to find the Avatar for the last thirteen years, what could possibly make you believe that we could do it?"

"I don't know," Toren said simply. "But we've got to try. In any case, if he still is alive Admiral Kun would do anything to get his hands on him while he's still young. If nothing else we have to find and protect him. Remember he doesn't even know that someone's after him; no one does. That's why it has to be us."  
"Woah. That's deep," said Ann.

"So it's settled then! We head for Ba Sing Se in the morning!" Razou announced enthusiastically. "Just one question: does anyone know where we are exactly?"

The next morning Leena was walking through the forest looking for Ann who had gone to get more fresh water and then didn't come back. She was worried that Ann may have gotten caught by the Underground Army, and if so, that meant they were a step away from getting them too.

After a long while she came to very large river in the middle of the forest. At the bank, staring into the water, was Ann, safe and sound.

"Ann! Oh, I'm so glad I found you!" Leena exclaimed. "Why didn't you come back right away?"

"Oh, I'm not Ann," she replied.

"What?"

As her friend turned around to face her what Leena saw was not Ann, but Master Chen. She screamed and started walking backwards, but she tripped on a tree root and was now a sitting duck.

"Did you really think you could outrun me forever?" Master Chen asked.

"I thought we lost you in the forest!" Leena cried. Suddenly more and more soldiers appeared out of nowhere, completely surrounding her.

"You can never lose me," Master Chen said as he slowly drew out his katana. "Because I'm always with you. I'm always right HERE!"

As he said that final word he struck his sword right down Leena's face and stomach and as her screams filled the woods she found herself sitting in the dirt back at their camp.

"Woah, what's wrong Leena?" said Ann as she rushed over to her. "Why did you scream?"

"I… I, uh… had a nightmare, that's all. I'm fine," Leena answered as she shook.

"If you say so."

That morning they got off to an early start. They reasoned that if they just kept following the coastline they were bound to come across a coastal town sooner or later; and if they found a town they could figure out where they were. The sun had risen by the time the continued their journey, and an icy mist hung in the air.  
"Do you think this mist is just from the ocean?" Ann asked, shivering.

"Maybe," said Toren. "It might also be late summer heading into autumn. If so, we'd better hurry if we're gonna make it to Ba Sing Se on foot before the first snow."

They trudged on for a while, always jumping at any noise they heard, for fear that it was the Army. By the time the sun had risen a ways, perhaps around nine o'clock, they came to a very large river inlet. Ann said that she had gotten their drinking water the other night from a small stream that must have diverged from this river.

"So, how to we get across?" Razou asked.

Toren planted his feet and then raised his left arm suddenly. At that same time, a large stone path rose from beneath the surface of the water.

"That's how," he said simply.

"Oh, right! My bad," Razou apologized.

"Let's not dilly dally," said Toren. "We don't want to inadvertently create a dam here."

They crossed the river quickly and then Toren made the pathway disappear once again. Then, after making it past the tree line, they discovered an entire village sitting right in front of them. There were houses and streets and shops, but perhaps the strangest thing was that there were people milling about who weren't training, or fighting, or running from some big scary military, they were just… going about their buisness.

"Wow! A real-life village!" Ann marveled.

"Didn't you come from the Northern Water Tribe?" Razou asked. "The 'big city' as it were?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't remember it all that much," Ann said in her defense.

"So what do we do?" asked Leena.

As they stood there watching the passersby, one lady caught a glimpse of them and looked over. She immediately began running the other way.

Toren looked down at his own very dark uniform and realized that the symbol of the Underground Army was on it. He hadn't even thought about their wardrobe when they left.

"I think we need to consider getting a change of clothes. That way we'll blend in a bit more," Toren suggested.

They went back into the forest as they circled the village from behind the cover of the trees looking for a clothes line with some new wardrobe they could use. They went around for a few minutes before they saw one sitting in someone's backyard.

Toren found a light green sleeveless top with white edging and some comfortably baggy pants that reached his ankles. He kept his shoes of course, and his belt.  
Ann was less enthusiastic about her options. Evidently the inhabitants of this household were mostly male. However she did manage to find a lovely pale green dress with droopy sleeves and lovely white trim. No one would recognize her in this.

Leena was a lot less picky. She grabbed a plain brown shirt and a pair of green pants. However she chose to abandon her stuffy shoes and instead went barefoot.

Razou, on the other hand, grabbed a brown vest, some black shorts, and a scarf which he used as a sash.

"There! Now we look just like everybody else!" Ann said excitedly.

"Now let's get out of here before somebody sees us," Toren warned.

As they walked down the streets feeling very proud of themselves for having snuck their way into society, Razou thought he saw one of their faces printed on a piece of paper which was stuck to a large bulletin board near the center of town. As he walked over to it, the others followed, and low and behold all of them had their pictures up on the board.

Leena ripped one off and examined it closely. "It's a wanted poster," she said simply.

"Wow, those guys work fast!" Ann remarked.

"This is bad, guys. Half the town has probably seen these. The Army will be here within minutes!" Razou exclaimed.

"All right, all right, calm down. Let's just grab some food and hit the road. No one ever said we were gonna live here," said Toren.

At a slightly faster pace, they all walked to the town market where they swiped some fruit and bread. Then they asked one man at the market if they could see a map.

He led them to a booth nearby that was selling school books, maps, and expensive atlases. Toren asked the man behind the counter if they could see one of his maps for a second. He grumpily agreed and spread it out before them.

After asking the shopkeeper where exactly they were, they figured out that they were at the southern end of the Earth Kingdom province. Ba Sing Se, however, was far in the North. So unless any of them knew how to fly, they weren't getting to the capitol any time soon.

In any case, they now knew where it was they were heading, so they thanked the shopkeeper and started going nor-east. They couldn't go directly north because there was an enormous desert blocking their path, so they would have to go around it. There was a sizable piece of land to the right of the desert where they could travel safely, and that would take them directly toward the great city.

The village they found was small and before long they were following a trail that lead them out past some great mansion on an extremely large plot of land and surrounded by a large wall.

After a while they walked past a large gate that lead onto the property with a decorative winged boar above it.

"Hmm… that sure is an odd boar," said Ann absentmindedly.

They continued on for quite some time. There wasn't much to see. Just wide open fields and mountains far off ahead. There were a few trees here and there, but besides that, not much.

"This would be a lot easier with a flying bison," Leena thought out loud.

"Yeah, well we don't have a magical flying buffalo," said Razou moodily.

"Bison," Leena corrected.

"Whatever."

On they walked, however now in a more disagreeable mood, until they could walk no longer. It was late in the afternoon when they stopped underneath a large oak tree sheltered from the road by many bushes, and there they made camp. They were all exhausted and hungry and in very bad moods by now and it didn't look like things would be getting better any time soon.

As the evening wore on and the sun began its final descent, almost all of them were asleep or dozing off. Leena was reclined against the oak tree and looking out over the horizon at the sunset. Ann was sleeping at her feet.

The surface world was so wonderful. How could she have no memory of it? It was insane to think of, but Leena had absolutely no memory of her time above the ground when she was young. She sincerely wished that she could remember it now.

"All right, you! Check that way! And you! Check that way! They can't have made it far."

Leena froze. She knew that voice. But from where?

Careful not to wake Ann, Leena shifted in her spot until she could see around the trunk of the tree. She peered down the road they had traveled on and saw a dozen or so men walking straight toward them. They were definitely Underground Warriors. The leader looked very familiar somehow.

"Come on!" he bellowed at the soldiers. "Master Chen didn't put me on this detail so you could slack off!" That voice! It couldn't be!

Leena strained to get a good look at his face and soon she realized her suspicion was correct; it was Kato.

"Ann! Ann, wake up!" Leena whispered, shaking her friend awake.

"Mmm… what?" Ann asked groggily.

"Shh!" Leena warned. "Be quiet! There are soldiers looking for us!"

Together they woke Toren and Razou and then they climbed up into the oak tree. From above they watched the soldiers, in their black uniforms and armor, scourer the area looking for them. Leena practically had to hold her breath to keep from being heard.

"Why are we just sitting here?" Razou whispered so quietly they could barely hear. "We have the element of surprise! Let's get the drop on them."

"No!" Toren said firmly. "We don't want them on to us!"

"I know your here, low lives!" Kato called. "Come out now and I might consider going easy on you!"

Razou looked like he was going nuts where he sat in the tree. He couldn't bear just watching while he had the perfect chance to do some damage.

"I am going to go!" he mouthed.

"No!" Leena practically squealed.

But despite their warnings, Razou slid over the side of the branch he was sitting on and was prepared to get the jump on the guard directly below him, however before he realized what had happened, Razou had hit his head against that of the soldier's and was hanging by his foot upside down before all the Underground Warriors. His foot had gotten caught on one of the branches.

"Ow!" he cried.

"Ow? What do mean 'ow'? You hit me in the head!" barked the soldier whom Razou had hit.

"Uh, dum-dum, I hit your head with my head! Yes, 'OW'!" Razou shot back.

"Men! Get them!" Kato ordered. "The rest of them are probably in the tree!"

"Ugh! Now he's done it!" Leena said under her breath.

Just as one warrior was about to take hold of Razou, Toren and the other's jumped out of the tree and cried, "Leave him alone!"

As Toren hit the ground he sent a wave of earth flying all around him that knocked the soldiers to their knees. Ann helped their firebending friend down while Leena and Toren faced off the mob of soldiers.

One soldier in particular came at Leena with a whip of water that she dodged and then she grabbed his outstretched arm and twisted it behind his back and then proceeded to kick him into the oak tree. The next soldier tried blasting fire at her which she caught and sucked out all of the oxygen from effectively stifling the flame. Then she blew him several feet away with a powerful wave of wind.

Toren was fairing about as well as Leena. Half a dozen soldiers were always coming at him, but he dealt with them decisively. He threw several large boulders at some, pushing them back several feet, others he hit in the stomach with large stalagmites which sent them flying, and when any of them came at him with elemental powers he would create a tall earth tent or wall to block their move and then continued fighting.

Razou ran into the fight, fire blazing, burning whoever he could in the process. He jumped out of the way of most of the attacks thrown at him, but his crazy fire-throwing strategy left him open a lot of the time and he fell victim to a nasty kick to the stomach which hurled him into the oak tree.

Ann rushed over to help him when another soldier appeared out of nowhere and attacked. Without any water nearby she had only her hand-to-hand combat skills left.

He earthbended her into the air on a stone pillar and she found her self plummeting back down to the ground. She had the wind knocked out of her and she was left chocking for air on the ground.

"Ann!" Leena called.

She came to rescue just as a soldier was coming to take her prisoner and hurled a powerful wave of air at him which knocked him back.

"Ann Jing! Are you all right?" Leena asked frantically.

"I'm fine," Ann said, getting up.

Suddenly they were launched into the air by a powerful air attack, however Leena calmed herself and caught them in mid-air. She lowered them safely to the ground and found herself face-to-face with the only soldier left: Kato.

Razou, Toren, Ann, and Leena had him surrounded. All the rest of his force were unconscious or nursing their wounds.

"Give up, Kato!" Toren said boldly. "We've won. If you surrender now we might consider letting you live!"

Kato's dark brown hair was cut so short that the wind didn't even seem to have an effect on it. His smug smile suddenly spread across his face.

In an instant he launched himself into a backflip that landed him behind Razou and Toren. From there he used his airbending to knock the boys into Ann and Leena.

"This isn't over, scum! As you can see, I've been promoted, and I will not let my master down! The Admiral will have you!" Kato cried.

"I don't think so!" Toren called back just before he created a smoke screen of dirt and dust that hung in the air.

They all ran at full speed down the path until they came to a small stream that had created a small ditch in its wake. All four of them jumped down into it and breathed heavily as they sat there reliving all that had just happened.

"We shouldn't have stayed to long in that village," Toren panted.

"We… didn't have much… of a choice…" said Ann between breaths. "We needed clothes… food and a map. Maybe we… should have disguised…. our faces…"

"Of course!" Razou blurted. "How could we be so… stupid! Half the village would have seen those wanted posters… they were bound to realize who we were and turn us in!"

"All right, next time we need to be more vigilant, but for now, let's just be glad we got away," Ann said.

That night was spent in a small cave Toren formed in the ditch. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but none of them really wanted to keep going due to fatigue and the fact that if they tried to make a break for it they might draw too much attention on this open plain. So they stayed.

Not wanting to get caught a second time, though, they decided to take shifts watching the surrounding land. After all, had Leena not been awake earlier they would have been caught for sure.

As Razou got the most sleep under the oak tree, he took first watch. The night was cold and dark. There was only a sliver of a crescent moon out that night. Not much happened while Razou sat watch, save for a heard of koala sheep that passed through.

After Razou thought he could no longer keep his eyes open, he woke Ann who took the next shift.

The next morning they all woke up finding Ann asleep with the rest of them.

"Wasn't anyone taking the watch shift?" Leena asked.

"What?" Ann asked, only just waking up. "Oh, I'm sorry. I meant to wake one of you guys up but I… *yawn* I fell asleep, I guess."

"Well, no matter. We didn't get caught and that's the important thing," said Toren reassuringly. He stood up and looked around. "We'd better get moving. Kato and his goons won't be far behind us."

Stomachs growling once again, they set off due nor-east towards Ba Sing Se. This time, however, they kept their distance from the road lest Kato show up again and see them. This made the trek much more difficult, but at least it kept them safe.

About mid-day they reached a tiny farming village. Well, village would be a loose term. Really it was just a few of the farm houses that were closest together with a couple stores and a saloon.

"All right, now remember, we're just here for food. Try not to let your face show too clearly to strangers and don't get distracted!" Toren warned before they went in.

Following Toren's instructions to the letter, the four of them walked into the town on route for the grocery store.

Inside they found buckets and bushels of fruits and vegetables, breads and meats and an old lady snoozing behind the counter. Since there was no one else around to see, they decided to take what they wished and leave but the moment Leena had filled up a basket of food and tried to exit through the front door the old lady suddenly sprang to life and cried, "Stop right there! Aren't you going to pay for that young lady?"

Leena paused and turned around. "Oh, uh…" she said, thinking quickly of what to say.

"You mean… pay with money?" Razou asked. "Like, money, money?"

"What do you think I mean?" the old lady demanded.

"Well, we don't really… have any money, so—" Toren started.

"—No money, no food! Get out of my store!" she cried.

"But-but… please?" Ann begged.

"OUT!"

A moment later the four of them were out on the street again wondering what to do next. They were still starving and they had no idea where the soldiers were so they couldn't be sure where it would be safe to camp.

"So now what?" Ann asked.

"I don't know," Toren answered.

Suddenly, as they were passing over the porch of an old house, they saw the worst possible thing they could have seen: Kato and his men. They were marching into the village looking for them, talking with anyone who was around if they had seen four teenagers who matched the description of the wanted posters they carried with them.

"What do we do, Toren?" Leena asked quietly. She got no answer. "Toren?" she turned around but he wasn't there.

All of a sudden she heard a muffled gasp and turned around to find that Ann had disappeared too. The next thing she knew Razou was gone as well, and with a sudden jerk and a hand over her mouth, Leena was dragged into the house whose porch they were standing on a few seconds ago.

Leena tumbled to the floor and looked up. The door was closed now, and a strange figure stood in front of it, silhouetted by the light coming through the blind-covered window in the door. He was looking outside.

As she looked around Leena saw all of her companions on the floor with her. They were all in some sort of small, dingy living room with one old armchair and a free standing lamp.

"Who are you?" Leena asked, getting up.

The strange figure turned around and they saw a teenage boy perhaps a few years younger than them with strange blond hair and green eyes.

"My name's Rocky. Your welcome."


	4. Chapter 3 Past Lives

Chapter 3

Past Lives

"'Your welcome' for what?" Razou demanded as he got to his feet. "Throwing us onto your dirty floor?"

"For saving your necks. Those men are looking for you, aren't they?" Rocky asked, pointing out the window. "I saw your wanted posters. Fugitives from the Underground Army, huh?"

"I guess so," Ann shrugged. "But why did you save us?"

Rocky looked around and sighed, as if he didn't want to answer. "Because I need to get to Ba Sing Se without getting caught," he finally said.

"Ha! What a coincidence!" Ann blurted. "We're g—"

"— _Why_ do _you_ want to go to the Earth Kingdom capitol?" Toren asked threateningly.

"Mind your own buisness!" Rocky snapped.

"Well, we're not taking you unless you give us a good reason to," said Toren sternly. They stood staring at each other for a while.

"I have money you can use, experience hiking the mountains, which is the only way to get to Ba Sing Se from here, by the way, and I can help you look a little bit less conspicuous," Rocky answered calmly. "There's your reason."

Leena looked from Toren to Rocky and back again. Neither of them looked like they were going to stand down any time soon.

"Toren," she whispered as she pulled him away a bit. "We absolutely need this guy's help, he really sounds like he knows what he's doing."

"I don't like the looks of him," Toren whispered back. "I mean, have you ever seen someone with _pale_ hair before? There's something strange about this kid… there's something he's not telling us."

"Maybe, but we still need his help. We could barely get food on our own and we've only ever been in sparsely populated areas. I mean, what happens when we try to get food from large grocery stores? The authorities would pounce on us in an instant. We _need_ him, Toren."

Toren looked across the room with distain. He hated to admit it, but Leena was right. They needed help.

He gave a very loud sigh and then said, "All right, you've got yourself a deal. But remember, no funny buisness, got it?" Rocky nodded.

"I saw you guys try to get some food from Old Loa's place," Rocky said suddenly. "If you're really that hungry I've got some grub in the kitchen you can have."

"Oh, thank you!" Ann exclaimed running after him as he lead the way through the house. Razou wasn't far behind them. Leena was about to follow as well, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Toren standing still and staring out the window. She stopped and turned to face him.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay," Leena said as she slowly turned around and headed for the kitchen. She was very worried for him. It was true that she hadn't known him for very long, indeed only for a few days, but they were all each other had, and in a family if one person stumbles it is your duty to pick them up again.

In the kitchen, Razou and Ann were feasting on papaya and mango while Rocky was repairing an old chair. Leena sat down at the table when all of a sudden her seat gave out from underneath her.

"Sorry!" Rocky said quickly. "I should have warned you, I haven't really gotten around to reinforcing that chair just yet."

"No problem, I'll just stand," said Leena with a smile.

"So… what's it like in the Underground Army?" Rocky asked suddenly. "Is it true that they only accept benders?"

"Well, yeah," said Ann in between mouthfuls of mango.

"Isn't that kind of backwards thinking?" Rocky went on.

"Well, maybe to some people, but you gotta realized that it was founded on the ideals of the Avatar," Razou explained. "You know, all four elements working together in harmony, and all that junk."

"Fine, fine. So how long have you guys been there? And why the sudden change in allegiance?" Rocky continued.

"We've been there for most of our lives. Aaaand our reasons for leaving are our own," said Leena.

"For most of your lives?" Rocky repeated.

"Yeah," said Ann taking another bite of papaya. "Iw've bween der since I was thwee."

"Three?" Rocky said in disbelief. "Why on earth would they—"

"So that the greater part of our lives can be solely dedicated to fighting. And to relieve us of any emotional attachments, I suppose," Leena explained.

Silence fell in the room as Toren suddenly entered and grabbed some fruit. For a while all that could be heard was the sound of mangos being chewed and the squeak of an old chair as Rocky kept working.

"So I was thinking that we would head out in a couple of hours," said Rocky after a while. "We'll take the backroad to avoid your 'friends' and then—" There was a sudden knock at the door.

"Open up!" someone hollered.

"That's probably Kato and his men!" Ann said with panic.

"Everyone, down into the cellar now!" Rocky ordered as he pointed toward a small wooden door in the wall at their backs. "I'll deal with this guy."

As instructed, the four benders quietly hid down in the dark cellar while Rocky went to get rid of the soldier. He opened the front door and was met by a very tall scruffy-looking man in black.

"Have you seen these kids anywhere?" the man asked sourly as he held up a few wanted posters. "They're fugitives from the Underground Army."

Rocky took a long hard look and then said, "No," then closed the door.

"Wait! Open up!" he called as he banged on the door.

"What?" Rocky asked when he opened the once again.

"All houses are subject to a search for these fugitives," he said barging into the house.

"I can assure you, I would know if some brats got into my home," Rocky reassured him.

"Still, you can never be too careful," the soldier said, undeterred. He made his way through the living room checking behind all the furniture and then checked the nearby bedroom. When he went into the kitchen Rocky followed him closely. He quickly stood in front of the door to the cellar in the hopes that he wouldn't notice.

After the soldier had been scouring the cupboards for a while Rocky said, "Are you about done?"

The soldier paused and looked around, his eyes settling at last on the door behind Rocky. "Now hold on. What's this here?" he asked, coming over.

"Nothing," Rocky replied sharply. "Just a closet."

"I'll be the judge of that," said the soldier as he lumbered over to the fair haired boy. He shoved him to the side gruffly with one arm and with the other reached for the handle. The door opened with a subtle squeak and then both of them were staring down into the dark cellar.

"Closet, huh?" said the soldier has he leered at Rocky.

One by one they descended the steps down into the darkness, dread silently building within Rocky's heart like a pounding drum. When they reached the bottom, They stopped and looked around. There was junk clutter everywhere. Large barrels filling the corners, some toppled over. Sacks of unwanted bric-a-brac covering most of the floor and, what surprised Rocky the most, a tall stone wall that he was certain he had never seen before.

The soldier rummaged around as much as he could, but in the end he found nothing. So he dismissed Rocky and promptly left.

"That was clever. What you did with the wall. Very convincing," Rocky said seemingly to himself.

Just after he said this, the odd wall that he had been referring to started to shake and then disappeared back into the ground from whence it came. From behind it were revealed the four fugitives whom he had taken in.

"Rocky…" said Ann suddenly. She held up a small painting she had found amongst the clutter. "What is this?"

Rocky came a little closer and took the painting while Razou lit a ball of fire within his hand so they could all see. It was a portrait. A portrait of a small, fair haired baby sitting on the lap of the last Earth Queen in the palace of Ba Sing Se.

Without a word, Rocky left, portrait in hand.

Alone in the cellar, the four benders stared at one another in confusion, trying to reconcile what they had just seen.

"That wasn't… he isn't…" Leena sputtered.

"Was that really Rocky sitting on the Earth Queen's lap?" Toren asked.

"Wait, wait, wait! Hold on! Are you saying that _she_ is Rocky's _mother_?" said Razou in disbelief.

"Which would make him…" Ann began.

"Prince of the Earth Kingdom!" Leena and Ann said together.

"Well, we're not going to know for sure until we ask him," said Toren. "Come on." He lead the way up the stairs where they all found Rocky sitting in the living room staring down at the painting still clutched in his hands.

"I know what you're going to ask," said Rocky before Toren even opened his mouth. "I never knew my mom. I was raised in the country by my father until he left. End of story." He stood up and folded the paper portrait until it was small enough to fit into his back pocket.

"But Rocky..." Ann began.

"End of discussion," said Rocky firmly. He started walking past them toward the back of the house. "You're going to need new outfits... I've got some stuff in back."

A few hours later Rocky was leading four darkly dressed teenagers through a shallow woods in the pitch-black darkness of the night. There was no moon out to help them this time. No one said a word and they all remained silent until the sun rose and they all stopped again to rest. After a short nap and a small breakfast they kept moving.

"So why did you guys ditch The Underground?" Rocky said after a long while. The sudden sound made Ann jump.

"What's it to you?" Toren asked.

Rocky sighed. "Fine, keep your secrets."

"Guys, he's agreed to help us, the least we can do is tell him why we're doing what we're doing," said Ann quietly.

"Ann, you don't really get this whole, 'secret mission' thing, do you?" Razou asked rudely.

"It doesn't have to be a secret to everyone," Ann argued. "Besides, given the circumstances, the more people know the better, right? You see, Admiral Kun Li is going to—"

"Ann! What is your problem?" Razou shouted.

"What? I'm just talking!" she blurted.

"I know, that's the problem!" Both of them had stopped and were now boring their eyes into one another in anger.

"Hey, knock it off!" said Leena, stepping between both of them. "It's been a hard last few days and we're all a bit cranky. Just cool it!"

Taking one last look at Razou, Ann huffed away and into the brush. Leena called after her, but she wasn't coming back. Sighing heavily, Toren announced that they would take a five-minute break.

"You didn't have to yell at her like that, you know," Leena said after a while.

"Well she doesn't have to be such a pansy all the time!" Razou bellowed in frustration. Leena wanted to shout at him, but she couldn't come up with a good retort. As much as she hated to admit it, Ann was a bit softer than the rest of them, and that quality wasn't exactly doing her any favors.

"You still didn't have to yell at her," Leena mumbled. "Go apologize to her."

"What? Why?" Razou cried indignantly.

"Just do it!" Leena ordered as she pointed in the direction in which Ann had gone. Razou rolled his eyes and trudged off sulkily. He found Ann sitting under a slender oak tree, her knees hugged tightly to her chest. He sighed loudly.

"Sorry for yelling," he muttered.

"I forgive you. I'm sorry too."

"For what?"

"For not listening to you," Ann answered. "You were right, we should keep our information to ourselves." There was a long pause and both of them shifted awkwardly before Ann continued, "I may not remember much about my real family, but I do know that they were good people who taught me that the best virtue in life was love. But love is a luxury in our line of work. All my years in The Academy taught me that, and I can't afford to forget it."

"Ann, I—"

"It's okay," said Ann as she stood up and faced him. "Let's get going."


	5. Chapter 4 The Stranger Who Helped Them

Chapter 4

The Stranger Who Helped Them Live

Rocky laid on the cold, dewy grass as early morning fog lazily drifted overhead. He was thinking about his new traveling companions and their unique situation. But most of all he was thinking about Ba Sing Se. He pulled out the old portrait from his traveling bag and unfolded the yellow paper. There sat a happy woman with her happy child, but Rocky knew the truth behind this painting.

Toren suddenly began to stir beside him so he hurriedly put the picture back in his bag.

"Okay, rise and shine, fugitives," said Toren as he rose to his feet. He was answered by several moans and grunts.

Before long they had packed all their things again and had left no trace of the fire or of where they slept. They moved on, the mountains getting closer every second. Rocky knew they were about half a day's journey from the mountain pass, but he also knew that once they had entered the mountains it would be all too easy for the Underground Army to pin them down. He only prayed that they had lost track of them back in the old village.

Then he looked up and saw the mountain face looming over him. They had finally arrived at the mountain pass. Now of course it would have been much easier to take the new, paved road through the mountains, but they couldn't run the risk of using the main road. So they followed an old trail up the left side of the mountains which looked like it had not been used in many years.

At first the trip was nearly enjoyable, beginning with a slight uphill slope which lead through a grassy field. But from there it gradually became far more difficult. Soon they were climbing over boulders, trudging over loose stones and gravel, and before too long they had found themselves in a narrow trench that cut through the side of the west mountain. There was a decent sized path on the left, but on the right it dropped off into what they assumed to be a roaring river down below. It most likely went under the mountain and then remerged somewhere in the countryside.

"Stay close, everyone," said Toren at one point. If Rocky had been harbouring any fear about treading in this unstable ravine they were immediately washed away when he heard the sound of Toren's voice again. Knowing that there was an earth-bender nearby comforted him immensely.

"Hey, guys? I've been thinking," Ann said. It was the first time she had spoken in a few days. "Has it seemed oddly peaceful these last couple of days?"

"What do you mean?" asked Leena.

"Well, not to sound ungrateful, but we haven't seen or heard anything of The Army for a while. Don't you think we'd have run into them again by _now?_ "

Just then there was a quiet rumbling coming from all around. A few rocks fell here and there, tumbling down into the river, and then all was quiet again.

"Don't say stuff like that, Ann! You're gonna jinx us!" said Razou angrily.

"Sorry," Ann mumbled.

"But she does have a point," Rocky said after a moment. "You said these guys are really good at what they do. So why haven't we had more run ins with them?"

Then Toren, who had been leading the group, said, "Well maybe they're just waiting..." he trailed off suddenly as he stopped and looked up. "...for the right time to attack..." There was a split second between here and the events that happened next. "Get back!" Toren yelled as the whole ravine began to tremble and large boulders and rocks started to fall from overhead. The path ahead was instantly blocked, so that only left them with the option of getting out the way they had come in. Each one of them did their best to use their bending against the falling stones, but Toren was outdoing them all.

Rocky had a sinking feeling in his stomach, as if he knew there was no way they would ever make it out of this alive. Now all of them had been running single file the way they had come but since they had all turned around now Leena was at the front and Toren was at the back. Rocky was just in front of Toren. Then, before they had even made it half-way back, Rocky heard a loud scream come from behind him, "Rocky! Help!" he turned and saw Toren standing underneath an avalanche of stone that, in a split second, pushed him over the edge of the narrow path, but Rocky didn't stop running. Something, fear, adrenaline, was telling him to get out of the ravine at any cost.

"Toren!" Ann screamed as she raced back to help. Soon the others were right behind her.

BANG!

A massive boulder shook the ground and then the stone beneath them started to crumble.

BANG!

A second boulder hit. This time the ledge gave out completely. Rocky tried to grab onto anything he could, but his fingers slipped and before he knew it he was free falling down into the ravine alongside the others.

"Everyone! Hold your breath!" Rocky thought he heard Ann yell.

SPLASH!

Rocky was hit with a wall of icy cold wetness that stung his skin and pierced his body like a knife. He couldn't see anything except for the light overhead and the rushing water all around him. Boulders were still falling hard, and he had to swim with all his strength against the roaring current to avoid some of them. Up and down, swirling and tumbling he went down the river until he was suddenly dragged down by his leg. He couldn't breathe. Something, most likely a rock, was on top of his leg and he could move. The current was pulling him forward, hard, but the stone wouldn't give. Panic rose in his chest as he pleaded to be delivered from this travesty. He had never prayed before in his life, but now...

If Rocky were able scream, he would have. Something had grabbed hold of his wrist with a strong grip. He looked behind him and through the clear mountain water he could see a dark figure with bright glowing eyes and long hair that was flowing about in the water. For a moment he thought the figure looked vaguely familiar, then, everything was plunged into darkness. They were now underneath the mountain.

Rocky had never known fear as great as this. In the darkness he had no sense of direction or balance. Between the sporadic gasps of air he would find every now and then and the constant thrashing against the low cave roof he was thoroughly exhausted. Just as he was beginning to fade, he was pulled forward again by the strange, glowing-eyed figure from before. She was both great and terrifying. Then he let go.

Rocky woke up coughing on a sunny river bank. He had no idea how he had gotten there or how much time had passed. All he did know was that he was ready to sleep for the next one hundred years. His limbs were limp and throbbing, his chest was shaking with every breath, and his throat felt as if he had swallowed sandpaper. Furthermore, as he slowly became aware of all his senses again he found that he had gotten a rather large amount of water up his nose. It was quite some time before he had the strength to move again.

"Rocky? Leena? Leena, are you okay?" That sounded like Ann. Her voice was far away. There was a long pause and then he heard footsteps coming closer. "Rocky, are you okay?" Her voice was much closer now, and after all the water and the noise, her voice came like a clear, ringing bell that lifted his spirit.

"Yeah. I'm fine," Rocky said as he slowly sat up, and then realised that maybe he should have rested a bit longer.

"What about your leg? Does it hurt?" she asked hurriedly.

"My leg? What do you mean?" asked Rocky as he peered down and saw his right calf bruised and somewhat bleeding. How could he not have felt this earlier? Before too long, however, he did begin to feel it. His leg had been numbed from all the adrenaline, but now, the pain came in full force.

"Don't worry, I'll fix it," Ann said as she rushed over to his other side. Rocky had heard that Waterbenders could heal, but now he believed it. Ann later explained that The Army trained all its Waterbenders to heal and fight, but for the moment Rocky rested.

A little while later they heard footsteps coming from upstream. Rocky looked up and saw a bruised Leena and a black-eyed Razou carrying Toren, lifeless, in their arms. Fear rose again in Rocky's heart.

"Is he all right?" Ann asked as she rushed forward.

"He's alive," answered Razou. His voice was low and hoarse.

"Just unconscious," Leena continued with an equally hoarse voice. "But that's not the worst of it."

Ann had them set Toren down next to Rocky, who's leg was still throbbing but no longer bleeding, and looked at him from head to toe.

"His hands are broken, and his left kneecap feels..." Ann paused as she held back her squeamishness. "...shattered. He may also have a view bruised ribs. That combined with a mild concussion, it's a miracle he survived."

"Can you heal him?" asked Razou.

"The concussion and the bruises I can heal fairly quickly. It's the broken hands and his knee that will take some time." Ann breathed in a shaky breath as they all sat together in silence. As Rocky looked around he realised what a mess they all were. They were all drenched and shivering, having at least half of their clothes ripped or shredded, and the girls' hair had come undone. Now that it was all hanging limply he realised just how much hair they both had.

"How did we survive?" Rocky asked after a while. The others looked at him with confused faces.

"What do you mean?" Leena asked.

"You heard Ann, It's a miracle Toren survived, and quite frankly the same could be said about all of us. We were being buried alive while drowning in a river that took us underground. By all accounts we should be dead."

"Unless..." Leena stopped as suddenly as she had started.

"Unless someone saved us," Razou finished.

"The glowing lady," said Rocky in realisation.

"The what?" Ann blurted as she began to busy herself with Toren.

"Back there in the river I was pinned down by a rock or something and then there she was. She had these glowing white eyes and her hair was flowing all over the place. She moved so gracefully in the water, and then before I knew it she had set me free and then I went barrelling down into the caverns."

"I saw her too," said Leena. "She protected me from the falling rocks."

"And she helped me get to the surface for air," Razou joined in.

"What about up you, Ann?" asked Rocky. "Didn't you see her too?"

"Actually..." she watched the swirling healing water pass over Toren's forehead. "I can't remember much about the river at all. I remember falling, and I remember waking up on the riverbank, but I can't remember anything in between that. I must have gotten knocked out."

"All the more reason to assume that someone helped us. You would never have been able to survive on your own if you were unconscious," Razou stated.

"I suppose so," said Ann.

Toren suddenly sputtered to life and let out a heart wrenching wail. He was coughing up water and writhing to and fro.

"Toren! Toren, calm down! We're safe!" Ann cried. "Don't move, you've broken more bones today than I can care to count, you have to wait for me to heal them." Toren calmed at once but his breathing remained rapid. Only his chest moved as he breathed and even then it looked as if it pained him.

"Is everyone here?" Toren asked. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yes, we're here," said Leena as she leaned closer so he could see her.

"It takes more than a little rubble to kill us," Razou said with a grin. Toren managed a forced chuckle before his face became etched with pain again. Ann was now working on his ribs.

"Ann," he said after a while. "Why can't a feel my foot?"

"Your foot?" she asked, panic in her voice.

"My left foot," Toren clarified. "Why can't I feel it?"

Ann rushed to the end of Toren's injured leg and examined it again. His dark boots were still mostly intact but now she saw a large tear in the leather of the left boot. She slowly took it off and found a mangled, blue foot next to a terrible-looking gash in his ankle.

"Ann, why can't I feel my foot?" Toren asked again. "Why can't I feel my foot?!"

Telling Toren what had happened was the hardest thing any of them ever had to do. Things became even worse when Ann realised that there was no way for her to heal the mutilated foot. It had already lost too much blood and now the only thing left for them to do was remove the foot entirely. I will spare you the details.

It was late in the afternoon when Leena, Rocky, and Razou wandered into the nearest town. Ann and Toren had been left by the river to further clean his wounds. They wouldn't be able to move on until the next day at the earliest. But for the time being, they needed food and medical supplies. The three of them had taken a risk and asked for a ride in the back of a passing motor car which was towing a cart full of hay. Thankfully, due to being in the river, they looked quite unrecognisable. They were able to go into town and buy a decent meal without being troubled much either.

They were just leaving, however, when they heard a terrible sound.

"There he is! Don't let him get away!" Rocky knew that voice all too well. He turned just in time to see a skinny, witchly woman pointing straight at him. Two large, ape-like soldiers were already barrelling toward him.

"Run!" Rocky yelled as he led them down the street and behind a nearby restaurant. Leena used her powers to lift a melon cart over to the alleyway in an attempt to block the guards.

"What in the blazing bellows was that all about?" Razou cried.

"Yeah, they weren't the Underground," Leena agreed.

"There's no time to explain, come on!" Rocky exclaimed as he continued down the alley.

They emerged on another street with few pedestrians wandering about. They raced down the sidewalk and then turned a corner only to find themselves face to face with the two guards. They didn't wear armour, simply leather uniforms with a unsettling symbol imprinted on their chests. It looked like an arrow shooting through someone's hand.

"Enough running! You are coming back to the orphanage with us right now! You and your little friends!" one guard said.

"Orphanage?" Leena repeated.

"Keep dreaming!" said Razou as he lit the ground with bright yellow flames.

"Hold on to one another!" cried Leena as she propelled them all up and onto the roof of an inn using a large gust of wind. From there they leapt from rooftop to rooftop getting closer to the edge of town.

"We're almost—" but Rocky was cut short as he was yanked from the sky by a long black whip. Razou and Leena doubled back to find the witchly woman holding Rocky with the whip. Razou jumped down immediately to help, but was hit by a slab of flying stone which pinned him to the wall of a building and wrapped around him. Apparently those two guards were Earthbenders.

Leena leapt out of the way of their second attack and landed behind the witchly woman, knocking her down and releasing Rocky from the whip. Then she shrieked as the ground beneath her began to swallow her up. Rocky was helpless to do anything and soon Leena was buried up to her chin. The guards had turned the stone street into quicksand.

"You little brat!" spat the woman. "You put up a good fight, Rocky, but your new friends can't save you from justice!" She snapped her whip again but Rocky managed to avoid it this time. He started to run but she followed and her whip wrapped around his ankles causing him to fall over. "No more running, Rocky. This is the end."

"I'm not going back!" Rocky yelled.

"I'm afraid you dont have a choice, young man," said the woman. "Load them up, now!"

Razou, Leena, and Rocky were helpless as the two guards bound their hands with stone and threw them into the back compartment of a dark grey, metal truck. Soon after the engine sputtered to life and they were jolting down the road. Nothing was said for a moment.

"How did we lose?" Razou asked. "We're supposed to be specially trained elite warriors. How could we lose to a couple of brutes?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's because we're still a little shaky from the river?" Leena offered.

"I guess," muttered Razou. "But who are these guys, anyway? And why were they after you, Rocky?"

Rocky was silent for a moment. He knew it would be impossible to tell them the truth without telling the whole story, so he took a deep breath.

"I was born just one year before the earth queen died. She had never announced her wedding to the public, so I too was kept in the shadows. My father was a good man, a very old friend of my mom's, but when all was said and done, the government instated, the funeral done with, he was to broken hearted to take care of me. So when I was five he handed me over to an orphanage. That witch in the driver's seat is the headmistress, Lady Shareika. She is the worst person in the world and ruined my life. She had a spotless record at the orphanage and no one had ever managed to escape. And if they did they would be hunted down mercilessly. So I did what no one else was ever able to do: I ran away and lived on my own for the next few years until I wound up in that little Podunk town you found me in. But all the while I've been trying to get back to Ba Sing Se in the hopes of maybe finding my dad again."

"That's why you needed us to escort you," said Leena. "To protect you in case you ran into the orphanage people again."

"But none of that matters now," Rocky said, looking out the bared windows.

Back at the riverside Ann was still tending to Toren. She had mostly healed what was left of Toren's ankle when the sun had started to set.

"They should have been back by now," she said, slightly frustrated. "I can't keep doing this forever, we need those medical supplies."

"Ann, calm down," Toren said curtly as he laid motionless on the ground. "You're overreacting."

"Overreacting? Overreacting?!" Ann cried, getting to her feet. "We are on the run from an elite assassin organisation that nearly killed us today, and left you practically helpless! We have no idea if the Underground really thinks we're dead, you're not well enough to travel, _and_ we need to get half-way across a continent to save the earth kingdom from a power hungry maniac! And unless those three get back here soon things could get a lot worse! Now tell me if you think I'm overreacting." Ann walked over to the water to wash her hands.

"Ann, I know this is bad, but you gotta get control of yourself," said Toren, a bit more gently. "The last thing we need is for one of us to be emotionally compromised. We're all each other has." Ann sighed and walked back over to his side so she could begin working on his knee cap.

"I'm sorry. I guess the pressure is just getting to me." They both sat in silence for a moment. "What about Rocky?" Ann asked suddenly.

"What about him?"

"You said we're all each other has, well... what about him? Can we count on him too?" When Ann asked this she wasn't necessarily accusing Rocky of being untrustworthy, but in a way she was asking Toren for permission to trust him. After all the criticism she had received from her traveling companions before on her willingness to trust others, she now felt as if she needed to have someone else's approval before making a decision like this.

"Well... to be perfectly honest I don't know," Toren said as he winced when Ann accidentally nudged his knee. "If you had asked me a few days ago I would have said that we could trust him as long as we were both keeping up our ends of the deal we struck back in the old village, but after today..."

"Why? What happened today?" Ann asked.

"He nearly let me die."


End file.
